America's City (Part 5)

Day 5 of our romp through Dallas! 

 

Dallas has a thriving arts community with amazing murals and art installations scattered throughout the city. Here are just a few: 

 

 

 

 

Depending on which corner of the Dallas neighborhood you find yourself on you might catch a different chapter of the story of giant robot, The Traveling Man, be it his birth, his stroll or his rest. 

 

The three large installations in the neighborhood are the work of artist Brad Oldham who created the figures in order to replace a previous bunch of murals that were once seen as the welcoming symbol of the neighborhood. Once the murals had to be taken down due to construction of a light rail system, The Traveling Man statues were born. Each of the figures is built of polished metal sheets held together with rivets, all meant to evoke the railway history of the neighborhood of Deep Ellum.  

 

Moving from one statue to another the story of the Traveling Man proceeds from birth to life. The first statue, called Awakening, features just a portion of the Traveling Man’s head and one of his clamps emerging from a pit of gravel as one of his songbird pals looks on. According to the story devised by the planners of the robot mascot The Traveling Man began life as a regular locomotive buried beneath an elm tree, but when a splash of gin was spilled on the roots of the tree, the weird folktale transformer emerged from the ground. 

 

Continuing down Good Latimer Street, you next find the huge robot reclining against a piece of debris salvaged from one of Deep Ellum’s old rail tunnels. This time The Traveling Man is represented in full with a smile and a guitar as he sits with his legs leisurely crossed in a piece known as Waiting on the Train.    

 

Finally The Traveling Man lives up to his name in the last, and tallest piece of the three. In Walking Tall The Traveling Man is seen taking a jaunty stroll with his avian sidekicks on his arm and around his feet. 

 

The Traveling Man, in all of his forms, are located not far from the Deep Ellum light rail station making him the ambassador for the area, reminding visitors and locals alike not only of the neighborhood’s history with trains but also its more recent history as a cradle for the arts.

Good Latimer between Swiss Ave. and Miranda
Dallas, Texas, 75204

 

@thetravelingtacos
The Blue Walkway
Location:  Dallas Museum of Art



 

 

@agirlfromtx
Dallas Love Mural
Location:  The Great American Hero in Oak Lawn

 



@agirlfromtx
Love Equation Mural
Location:  Pier 247 in Bishop Arts District

 

@christenstrang

Bishop Arts Wings

Location:  Bishop Avenue and Melba Street Intersection

 

@adventureswithasha

Rise Above Mural
Location:  Trinity Groves Restaurants
 

 

@nickievu

West Village Color Blocked
Location:  Parking lot behind LOFT in Uptown

 

@twinkiiex3

Good Morning Dallas
Location:  Dallas Contemporary near Design District

 

@agirlfromtx

Like to Know it Hearts
Location:  Standard Pour in Uptown

 

@kaseygoedeker

I love Tacos So Much
Location:  Urban Taco in Uptown

https://www.visitdallas.com/things-to-do/dallas-now/2017/06/deep-ellums-most-instaworthy-murals.html 

Top 10 Reasons Why i Like Living in Texas

So we've basically been in Dallas since July (if you want to get technical Coach moved here in April, KJ and I got here mid-June but our household goods weren't delivered until June 29) and I think it is now safe to say all parties involved are pretty happy!

A la David Lettermen, here are my Top 10 Reasons Why I Like Living in Texas (other than the fact that BK is from Texas): 

#10. The Shopping --  I have some of the best shopping I have ever had in any state I've ever lived in within a mile or two of our home.  From trendy little boutiques to specialty shops to large national chains, any store I could ever need is right nearby.

#9. The Food -- as with Shopping, the selection of restaurants is wonderful!  We have a favorite hamburger place, a favorite Sushi place, a new favorite taco place, a favorite place to grab a pizza and we even have a favorite smoothie place.  If we want Italian, Greek, Chinese, Mexican, seafood or something we didn't even know we were craving, it's all right here.

#8. Sports -- if you want to play it or watch it, Dallas is the place to be!  Hockey, Football, Baseball, college teams, high school teams, ultimate Frisbee, soccer, Top Golf, ... you name it, it's here. 

#7. Outdoor (and sometimes Indoor!) Adventures -- Six Flags is here, numerous water parks, a zoo (one here in Dallas and one in Ft. Worth),  indoor sky diving, Zip Lining, indoor rope courses and lots and lots of parks!  We have a wonderful park right outside the entrance to our subdivision and frequent regularly.  And yes, I've even started running again.  And there are lots of water sports, too!  We've already been paddle boarding and this summer I can't wait to hit the Hill Country and do some river tubing on a hot sticky weekend. Plus there are lots of cool swimming holes around. And if you feel the need to go snow tubing but don't like the cold, you can always go sledding at the Gaylord Texan like KJ and the kids did at Thanksgiving.

#6. The Weather -- so far, the weather in Texas has been very very good to us. We had an extremely pleasant first summer in Dallas. We had a handful of 100+ plus temps (maybe 5 days total?  7 at the very most) but they were not unbearable and we didn't really have any humidity. I was expecting much much worse.  We've had 1 tornado warning since we've been here (like "full-on sirens / get to your safe place NOW!" kind of deals) but having experienced that in Ohio and Alabama, it wasn't terrible.  We had a couple of "chilly" days (low 30's??) and an hour or so of snow flurries. Now, I know Texas weather can been extreme and highly unpredictable but again, so far so good. 

#5. Small Towns -- I love the quaint small towns we have nearby ... Grapevine especially!  Christmas was incredibly magical in Grapevine, there's always some kind of festival going on it and has some of the best #9 and #10 listed above!  Although they aren't considered "small" towns (because let's face it, EVERY thing is bigger in Texas), I'm looking forward to exploring San Antonio and Austin and we like wandering around Ft. Worth.  Not sure yet how I feel about Houston.

#4. Our House --  Coach and I agree this is quite possibly our favorite house we've ever lived in. This house is SO us. It's just right for our needs right now.  The layout is perfect for us, the room sizes are great and everyone has nice big closets, we love the media room and all our furniture looks great! 

#3. Our Pool -- seriously.  We love the pool.

#2. Texas Pride -- every where you look and every where you go, there's either a HUUUUUUGE Texas flag flying over head or there's Texas star somewhere.  I  actually started to take pics of the stars because they are so cool! 

Dang!  I just realized that I haven't even mentioned how much we love KJ's school, the art scene here, how pet-friendly it is here, the cool college towns or the great museums!  I probably should have made a top 15 list.

And the #1 reason why I like living in Texas:  The People!!!  Everyone here is so damn friendly and nice. No one cares where you're from or where you've been, no one cares if you're an Auburn or Alabama fan, no one minds what church you go to, no one has questioned my accent (or lack thereof) and no one has called me a (damn) Yankee or said "oh. You're from up North."  I have yet to meet a single gossipy or judgey person.  The parents don't gossip on the sidelines (they might wish their kid got a little more playing time but they don't engage in negativity towards the coach or the program). No one is pretentious or showy or fake or phony.  It's not a constant competition.  And I really really like that.